Red

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

Red, red, red. It's everywhere in this novel. It's on the sails of the Aleuts' ships, it's on the shore when the sea elephants are duking it out, and it's in the waves when the two giant tidal waves crash against each other. But what does it mean?

Well, we tend to associate red with violence (think blood), warning (stop lights, anyone?), and danger (ever heard of a red flag?). This novel is no different – whenever we see the color red in the narration, we can be sure that conflict is about arise. We should also note that since red occurs naturally in nature in the book, this suggests that conflict is part of the natural order of things.